New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-06-15
ABOUT THE WASP.
some Of His Dist1nguishin Charae-:
teristfcS. &

Ihe prejudice is not an adIllIaOlc olio,
AS some prejudices are; race pref udlce.
for instance, which is the making OF
nations. But not this one against
wasps. For it is really only protest
against vigorous personality. against
the assertion of individual power. In
the human species there are wasps-
strong-iighted men. whom most fear,
and many, out of our sheer weakness,
hate. for their robustness of mind and
their intellectual aggress.veness. Such
do not work in wax, nor store honey.
Yet the workmanship Of bees, as COM
pared with that OF Wasps. is the work
manship of blind mutes initiating a
pattern by touch Of fingers as conf
pared with that Of uncrippled and in
dependent intellect. The life history
Of the wasp, too, is far more worthy
of self than the hive folk. Sting?
Of course they do, if necessity arises,
and often, grateful to Providence for
the weapon, they make the necessity
for themselves. Ought they to keep
their talents wrapped in napkins9
No one likes bees better than do. l
have kept hives But, after all, they
are not the cattle and poultry of the in
sects? They are the sheep, while the
wasps are the wild deer. The one L g,
resents routine, the other one protes.j
against routine. What poetry is there
in the lives of bees, as compared with
that OF wasps?-in the tame citizen-
ship Of the artificial hive, the machine
made honey comb, as compared with
the romance of the woodland comb
maker? Both bee and wasp need
money; but the latter, when he has not
the leisure Tor the WHY to, gather il for
itself, goes after the former. What,
no, there!'' it cries. You bumbling1
fellow, in your jerkin. of woody brown,
stand and deliver!,' and the bee does.
A pirate of the air. a highwayman
of skyey roads and heaths? No, no;
not at all. This is.the way of cour-
ageous genius, that knows, how to take
the bricks which the diligent mechanic
al student has been piling up into reg
ular heaps in his brick-yard, and to
build beautiful houses with them. Left
alone, they would have been piles of
bricks, and nothing more, forever and
a day. But better man comes along
and bravely possesses himself of them.
You can go and rummage for more,
he says to the toiler among the clay;
that is your lfe-work-to make bricks.
Mine is to build with the bricks which
you Make Of course, the bee buzzes
and says: ''You mustn't; you really
ought not want the honey myslef
to fill cell with. y The wasp replies:
s'Deliver, or you are a.dead bee" Or
suppose they argue more calmly:
'What are you doingpn demands the
wasp, Going home with my honey
bag" replies the other. "Wk NV q
ITO fill a cell WITH" eve, =. 1T
then? When the cell is flied what
shall you do?" ''shut,it up and begin
another" is the reply. And thenPr
"Fill that up, too, and begin another
Imagine the generous fury of the wasp!
"Oh, thou mutton headed fly And is
that the end of life-to fill cells with
honey and eat none? To sweat All the
summer through and have no harvest
of your toilp 0 thou gross one. Thou
honey -grubber! Thou miser, of honey
bags! Perpetually filling for others to
Woodland without the wit to- see that
thou art the sport of spendthrifts. Out
of this! Give up your, honey, or, odd
zooksI this raper at the, end cf ms,
shall rid the world of a., .,skult'
variet.," But, like the st 4 i,good
citizen that he is, the bee o. u refuses
to surrender, and then woe {" him, the
poor honest fellow in his, fl. ian coat.
For my gentleman whips out his bod
kin, and there is an end of the bee.
In,sl1ort, there issa great deal to say
about the wasp, and in. It's favor Its
soldiesly ways, SO, .smart'' and alert
the lancer in the field. q gladiator at
need. When they 60 abroad it is with
military Notwithstanding, skirmish-
ings. foraging, fighting. And the nest
is q. citadel. There is, NO .sbumbling''
variety of the wasp, no humble wasp.
They make very little suss about what
thsa do. YeasometlEes, when they 90
by, there is slang past your ear a sound
like rifle bullet. not like the bees of
"a full content,.a bat an eager racing
voice that has. an objective point before
it. Thus they keep life from getting
stagnant. Many insects would 90 to
sleep altogether il it Were not for the
wasps, who, are forever accommodating
other peoples premises. just as nature
keeps a hawk hung up in she air to
teach ths- groundlngs that ..life is not